Time machine ?

I can’t seem to find any instructional info on Time Machine. How to use it, how to restore etc. General information as to how it works would be nice.

Following the initial backup… Does it back up the complete file/folder over and over or just the changes to those files/folders ?

I have heard of the external drive being filled up very quickly.

I purchased a Western Digital 1 TB external drive (great buy by the way)... had no problems installing… just plugged it in and off it went. Sadly the lack of instruction regarding the use of Time Machine is frustrating to say the least.

Any help appreciated.
Rob

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Show me someone that thinks they know everything… I’ll show you a fool

Rob, for the purposes of Time Machine, don’t worry about the disk filling up (as long as it is dedicated to Time Machine). TM will make room for newer backups by deleting the oldest stuff on the drive. I have a 1 TB Time Capsule that backs up 3 Macs. My Desktop, which I consider to be my “main computer”, has backups going back to October 8, 2008. The trick with Time Machine is to learn what to EXCLUDE from the backup. If you listen to podcasts, I would recommend excluding those as they change so frequently and TM will back up the entire podcast directory in iTunes for each individual addition or deletion. If you are a MobileMe user, and you maintain a local copy of your iDisk, I would exclude it as well. This WILL eat up your backup drive quickly as Time Machine will back up the ENTIRE Sparse Bundle for your iDisk every time you add or delete, or move a file.

Excluding items from your TM backup is easy. Open the system Preference for TM and click the “Options” button. A drop-down menu will appear which allows you to specify files you want excluded. In case you were wondering (or anyone else) your iDisk local copy is located at (where “username” below is YOUR username on your Mac:

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A just war is in the long run far better for a nation’s soul than the most prosperous peace obtained by acquiescence in wrong or injustice.- Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States (1858 - 1919)

A new drive from Tech Restore and a restore session from Time Machine and I no longer have any fear of a hard drive crash. It just worked. Kudos to Apple. Select restore from backup while installing from system disks.